The Radical Muslims of Germany

By Dr. Sami Alabraa

"Jews are the enemy of Allah," declared Ismael Gharaballi during a service in a mosque in Bielefeld, Germany. "This is not only my belief, but also Allah's conviction," the Palestinian imam and Hamas activist declared, waving his Koran in the air. The congregation of about 200 thundered, "Allahu Akbar!"

Then Gharaballi turned to another page in the Koran and read,

"... and kill them [he explained this to mean unbelievers, especially the Jews] wherever you overtake them and expel them from wherever they have expelled you" (Surah 2, verse 191). "What are you waiting for?" he cried. "Allah Himself is telling us kill them. No peace can be made with the Jews."

After the prayers, I approached Gharaballi in the cafeteria of the mosque and asked him if he was serious about what he had preached. "Of course, I am. This is not any book. This is the word of Allah." Then I asked if he would kill a Jew here in Germany. He answered: "Yes, especially those Israelis who are occupying Arab land." I reminded him that this would be murder and for that he would land up behind bars. Ismael retorted angrily: "I don't care. The Koran is our law and constitution and anything else is just rubbish." Referring to Hitler, Ismael told me: "The man was a hero, almost a Muslim. I'm one of his fans." Read more ...

Source: Family Security Matters

Myth of the noble terrorist takes an overdue battering

Jason Koutsoukis in yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald reports on the brutality of Hamas towards Gaza's citizens

PALESTINIAN civilians living in Gaza during the three-week war with Israel have spoken of Hamas's attempt to hijack ambulances. Mohammed Shriteh, 30, is an ambulance driver registered with and trained by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. "Mostly the war was not as fast or as chaotic as I expected. We would co-ordinate with the Israelis before we pick up patients, because they have all our names, and our IDs, so they would not shoot at us."

Shriteh said the more immediate threat was from Hamas, who would lure the ambulances into the heart of a battle to transport fighters to safety.

"You hear when they are coming. People ring to tell you. So we had to get in all the ambulances and make the illusion of an emergency and only come back when they had gone."

Eyad al-Bayary, 32, lost his job as a senior nurse at the Shifa Hospital because he is closely identified with Fatah.

Since the ceasefire was declared on January 17, Hamas has begun to systematically take revenge on anyone believed to have collaborated with Israel before the war. According to rumour, a number of alleged collaborators have already been executed.

Taher al-Nono, the Hamas Government's spokesman in Gaza, told the Herald that 175 people had been arrested so far on suspicion of collaborating.

And if the sentence is death? "We will respect the decision."

The commander of one al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade unit, who used the name Abu Ibrahim, said he would never accept peace or negotiation, even if it might lead to the creation of a Palestinian state.

Ynetnews.com reports that Hamas may have inflated the death toll in Gaza:

ITALIAN newspaper Corriere della Sera reported Thursday that a doctor working in Gaza's Shifa Hospital claimed that Hamas has intentionally inflated the number of casualties resulting from Israel's Operation Cast Lead.

"The number of deceased stands at no more than 500 to 600. Most of them are youths between the ages of 17 to 23 who were recruited to the ranks of Hamas, who sent them to the slaughter," according to the newspaper article. The doctor wished to remain unidentified, out of fear for his life.

A Tal al-Hawa resident told the newspaper's reporter: "Armed Hamas men sought out a good position for provoking the Israelis. There were mostly teenagers, aged 16 or 17, and armed. They couldn't do a thing against a tank or a jet. They knew they are much weaker, but they fired at our houses so that they could blame Israel for war crimes."

The reporter for the Italian newspaper also quoted reporters in the Strip who told of Hamas's exaggerated figures, "We have already said to Hamas commanders: why do you insist on inflating the number of victims?"

These same reporters mentioned that the truth that will come out is likely to be similar to what occurred in Operation Defensive Shield in Jenin. "Then, there was first talk of 1500 deaths. But then it turned out that there were only 54, 45 of which were armed men," the Palestinian reporters told the Italian newspaper.

Denis Maceoin in The Jerusalem Post:

WATCH those films of Hamas gunmen dragging screaming children along with them to act as human shields, watch how they fire from behind the little ones, knowing no Israeli soldier will fire back. And even as they put their own children's lives at risk, they shout to high heaven that the Israelis are Nazis and the Jews are child-killers. Hamas has become proficient at resurrecting the blood libel, just as its fighters use the Nazi salute, just as their predecessor in the 1930s and '40s, Haj Amin al-Husseini, conferred with Hitler about building death camps in Palestine and raised a division of SS troops in Bosnia to fight for the Reich.

It is all self-contradictory: The Left supports gay rights, yet attacks the only country in the Middle East, where gay rights are enshrined in law. Hamas makes death the punishment for being gay, but "we are all Hamas now".

Iran hangs gays, but it is praised as an agent of anti-imperialism, and allowed to get on with its job of stoning women and executing dissidents and members of religious minorities.

If British Prime Minister Gordon Brown swore to wipe France from the face of the earth, he would become a pariah among nations. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad threatens to do that to Israel and is invited to speak to the UN General Assembly. Israel guarantees civil liberties to all its citizens, Jew or Arab alike, but it is dubbed an apartheid state; Hamas, ever the bully, kills its opponents and denies the rest the most basic rights, but we march on behalf of Hamas.

Source: The Australian

IPT Report on CAIR Attracts Attention

News that the FBI has cut off contacts with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is attracting media and political attention.

On Thursday, the IPT broke the story that the FBI wants CAIR officials to answer questions about their organization's un-indicted co-conspirator status in the Hamas support trial of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development before resuming relations. Evidence in that trial, which ended in November with the conviction of five former HLF officials on 108 counts, shows that CAIR was part of a network of Hamas support organizations in the U.S. and that founders Nihad Awad and Omar Ahmad were individually listed on a phone list of the "Palestine Committee" created by the Muslim Brotherhood for that purpose.

On Friday, five U.S. House Republicans, including the head of the bi-partisan Anti-Terrorism Caucus Sue Myrick, sent their congressional colleagues a letter with the IPT story attached. "Members should think twice before meeting with representatives of CAIR," the letter said.

And Fox News picked up the story, reporting that the FBI confirmed the IPT's reporting: "An official at the FBI's headquarters in Washington confirmed to FOX News that his office directed FBI field offices across the country to cut ties with local branches of CAIR."

CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper declined to comment to the IPT last week. However, CAIR issued a statement to FOX News blaming the freeze out on the Bush Administration: "It is not surprising that we would be singled out by those in the previous administration who sought to prevent us from defending the civil rights of American Muslims."

Source: IPT Blog

A Guide to the Qur’anic Contradictions, Part 5

By Abul Kasem

Sura 12: Yusuf (Prophet Joseph)

12:19
A passing caravan’s water-drawer rescued Joseph.
Contradiction: 12:20 says Joseph’s brothers sold him as a slave for a miserly price.

12:100
Joseph thought Satan had created enmity between him and his brethren; Joseph’s parents and his brothers prostrated before Joseph.
Contradiction: 2:255, 3:2, 3:18, 11:2, 20:98, 40:62, 40:65 say humans must prostrate (worship) only to Allah, and no one else.

12:109
Allah sends revelations to men only.
Contradiction: 27:82 says Allah also sends a beast as a messenger.
Contradiction: 35:1 says Allah sends angels with wings as messengers.
Contradiction: 6:130, 11:69, 11:77, 22:75 say Allah also sends jinns and angels as messengers. Read more ...

Source: Islam Watch

"Beware of CAIR" say Members of Congress to their colleagues

By Jerry Gordon

Several members of the U.S. House of Representatives Anti-Terror Caucus have sent a Dear Colleague letter today emblazoned with the warning: "Beware of CAIR". The signatories include: Reps. Sue Myrick (R-NC), Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), John Shadegg (R-AZ), and Paul Broun (R-GA). Rep. Myrick is the author of the Wake Up America Agenda aimed at countering Militant Islamic infiltration of American institutions.

Why the warning message from these concerned Members of Congress about the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR)? Because CAIR is about to storm Capitol Hill on February 6th in an intense lobbying blitz to combat its designation as an unindicted co-conspirator in the successful Dallas federal court retrial and conviction of The Holy Land Foundation caught funneling millions in charitable contributions to the Palestinian terrorist group, Hamas. These House Members of the anti-Terror caucus want to get the message out to their colleagues and constituents that meeting with CAIR, given recent actions by the FBI distancing the agency staff, both national and regional from the Muslim Brotherhood Front, would be tantamount to sanctioning CAIR's terrorist commitments to Hamas. Read more ...

Source: Red CountyHon. Sue Myrick
Hon. Peter Hoekstra
Hon. John Shadegg
Hon. Paul Broun
Hon. Trent Franks
Latest recipients of The MASH Award

Gaza's Blood and the Vampires

By Mshari Al-Zaydi

It is as if the aim of the blood shed in Gaza and the tears shed by its people was to tell the Arabs and the world: Hamas is who you must talk to!

The head of Hamas politburo Khalid Mishal excelled in declaring the “divine victory” on January 21 during his “divine speech” televised from Damascus, the capital of Hamas. He said, “The time has come for you to deal with Hamas,” (Asharq Al-Awsat, 22 January 2009).

Khalid Mishal, and this declaration of his, was echoed in neighbouring Egypt by the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). Essam el Erian, a prominent figure and theorist in the MB, wrote an article celebrating the victory and exploring the different ways it can achieve regional gains for both Hamas and the Arab resistance camp. He listed the gains that Hamas had achieved (or rather what Hamas failed to achieve vis-à-vis the Israeli military’s brutal indiscrimination), which Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood sought to transform into self-gain to be used against the Egyptian government and all Arab governments that fail to comply with Islamic Shariaa and carry out Jihad in line with its own vision. Read more ...

Source: Asharq Al-Awsat

The Fatah Option - a false choice in Gaza

By Dan Diker and Khaled Abu Toameh

Israel's three-week military operation in Gaza in December-January has raised the issue of the possible return of Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah party to Gaza to replace the Hamas regime. The Israelis, Americans, the major European powers, and especially the Egyptians favor Abbas' forces regaining control not only over Gaza's border crossings, but also over the entire Strip. However, international demands for Fatah's return to Gaza face seemingly intractable obstacles.

A previous U.S.-funded and armed Fatah security regime in Gaza had entirely failed. Years of massive corruption and gangsterism by Fatah security forces resulted in an Iranian-financed, armed and trained Islamic emirate ruled by Hamas. Abbas had had the full backing of the international community to turn Gaza into the Hong Kong of the Middle East. Instead, Fatah collapsed under a Hamas assault in summer 2007. Read more ...

Source: Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

The Exalted Islamic Grievance-PeddlersA forum at a Pennsylvania university featured speakers who embrace jihad and preach Muslim victimhood.

By John Perazzo

This past Monday and Tuesday, West Chester University (WCU) in Pennsylvania presented a forum titled “Islam in America: Understanding Intercultural Differences.” That benign-sounding title gives no indication of the bitterly anti-Israel, anti-American views espoused by the key individuals who spoke at the event. The fact that such views were represented becomes less surprising, however, when we consider that one co-sponsor of “Islam in America” was the Muslim Students Association (MSA). West Chester’s campus MSA is a chapter of MSA National, which was originally founded by members of the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization that supports the worldwide imposition of Islamic Law and seeks to pursue “a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying … Western civilization from within.”

The keynote speaker at “Islam in America” was one of the most influential Shi’a religious leaders in the United States, Imam Sayid Hassan Qazwini. Carefully presenting himself to the public as a voice of reason and moderation in the Muslim community, Qazwini heads the Dearborn, Michigan-based Islamic Center of America (ICOA), the largest mosque on the continent. He has been embraced by three credulous American presidents—Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama—as a valued ally in the quest for mutual respect and tolerance among practitioners of different faiths. Moreover, Qazwini was given the honor of offering a prayer at the opening session of the 108th Congress in 2003. Read more ...

Source: FrontPage Magazine

Symposium: Homegrown Jihadis. A distinguished panel provides a diagnosis.

By Jamie Glazov

The recent Mumbai horror has been yet another chapter in the dark tale of homegrown terror, as evidence indicates that British-born Pakistanis were among the Mumbai terrorists.

In this special edition of Frontpage Symposium, we have assembled a distinguished panel to discuss the problem of the jihadization of homegrown Muslims. Our guests are:

Brigitte Gabriel, a terrorism expert and the founder of ACT! for America. Her new book is They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It.

Raheel Raza, a leading Muslim reformer, award winning writer, professional speaker, diversity consultant, documentary film maker and interfaith advocate. She is the author of Their Jihad . . . Not My Jihad. Visit her site at RaheelRaza.com.

Christine Williams, the producer and host of the live current affairs Canadian daily talk show On the Line. The program has been recipient of five international awards. She holds a degree in Research Psychology from McMaster University and has distinguished herself as a political and crime reporter.

Joan Lachkar, Ph.D., a licensed Marriage and Family therapist in private practice in Brentwood and Tarzana, California, who teaches psychoanalysis and is the author of How to Talk to a Narcissist (2007), The Many Faces of Abuse: Treating the Emotional Abuse of High -Functioning Women (1998), and The Narcissistic/Borderline Couple: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Marital Treatment (1992). Dr. Lachkar speaks nationally and recently presented, "The Psychopathology of Terrorism" at the International Psychohistorical Association, and at the Rand Corporation. She is an affiliate member of the New Center for Psychoanalysis, and writes in the Journal of Emotional Abuse.

Dr. Nancy Kobrin, a psycho-analyst, Arabist, and counter-terrorism expert. Read more ...

Source: FrontPage Magazine

CAIR's "Holocaust" Libel. Abusing a historical tragedy to condemn Israel.

By Joe Kaufman

When it comes to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, many in the radical Muslim community choose to exploit imagery related to the Holocaust in an attempt to gin up animosity towards Israel. One of the promoters of this offensive practice, Affad Shaikh, is a representative of a well-known Islamic organization, CAIR. Recently, Shaikh took the offense to a new level – or in this case, a new low – by evoking an infamous Nazi propaganda-driven anti-Jewish libel and by posting to the web a defaced photo of a familiar Holocaust victim.

Since the beginning of the Gaza attacks, the Council on American-Islamic Relations or CAIR has been on the attack, as well – against Israel. This makes sense, given the group’s deep connection to Palestinian terrorists – CAIR was created by Hamas operatives and CAIR was recently named in a federal Hamas fundraising trial.

One of the CAIR leaders who has been extremely vocal in his anti-Israel rhetoric is Affad Shaikh, the Civil Rights Coordinator of CAIR-Los Angeles (a.k.a. CAIR-California). Upset at the Gaza situation, Shaikh has posted numerous anti-Israel messages on different blog sites.

Shaikh is involved with – what he calls being a “collaborator” for – various blogs. One fittingly goes by the name Anti-“Israel,” a site which broadcasts articles written by leaders of Hamas. In a January 8th article published by Anti-“Israel,” entitled ‘This Brutality Will Never Break Our Will to Be Free,’ the head of Hamas Khaled Meshaal admitted to Hamas’s use of rockets against Israelis. He wrote, “Our modest, home-made rockets are our cry of protest to the world.” Read more ...

Source: FrontPage MagazineAffad Shaikh
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award

Can she be Iraq's Hillary?

By Gao Shan, Fu Yiming | BAGHDAD, Jan. 30

With her son's photo in hand and a sense of sadness and helplessness in eyes, an old woman sat on a ropey wooden stool beside the gate of the election campaign office of Sawsan al-Mawla, a female candidate from the Iraqi National Dialogue Front. Two guards with rifles standing aside looked at her sympathetically but still refused to let her in through the gate. She stretched out her hand and mumbled to everyone passing by for help.

Then Sawsan al-Mawla, a woman in her 40s, came to the gate. Elegant in her manners, Mawla dressed in fashion with black overcoat and colorful scarf. She has light brown short hair with a natural wave and soft contours, similar to Hillary Clinton, the new U.S. Secretary of State and the former First Lady.

She listened to the miserable story of the poor old woman, 52-year-old Bushra Yusif, and comforted her. Yusif's son in the photo was killed by a car bomb in Baghdad. Another son is jobless while her husband is suffering from mental illness. She came to several government agencies for help but got no response. If she couldn't get enough money for the rent of her house, her family would be kicked out of the door. Occasionally, she saw the election poster of Mawla on the street. With some hope, she came to Mawla to have a try.

Mawla gave the old women 65,000 Iraqi Dinars (about 55 U.S. dollars) and called for an official in the Iraqi government to help the old woman to find a job for her son.

"You see, it's just an example of the misery life of Iraqi women," pointing to the old woman sitting and sobbing in the corner, she told Xinhua. "Without ambition, I wouldn't go to elections, I want to be Iraq's Hillary, so that I will serve my country and be an example for Iraqi women who have already suffered a lot in the war."

"I am honored to be a candidate and head of the Front's woman organization in Karkh district in western Baghdad. To help widows, orphans and those poor women in need in this war-torn country is my duty," she said.

Mawla is just one of thousands of Iraqi women now running in Saturday's election. More than a quarter of the about 14,000 candidates registered for provincial elections are women. According to election laws that try to ensure the presence of women in political system, each party that wins seats in provincial council must give a third of their seats to women.

"My election campaign is through radio and TV in addition to other ways such as Internet and posters. But my favorite way is to face people directly in districts. What pleases me is that wherever I go, people are keen to see a stronger role of women."

With the coming of the elections, posters can be seen on the walls across Baghdad city.

Though it is usually harder for a woman than a man to campaign, Mawla is still optimistic. She said, "Although my district is a hot spot, but I moved freely and used to help putting my posters on the walls that made popular among people. They always tried to express their admiration for my bravery so I got so many people who promised to elect me. And those people in my district volunteered to protect me."

Mawla is a mother of two youngsters, Sarah and Hatem, who are high school students in Baghdad. Campaigning in a country dominated by conservative religious blocs since U.S.-led invasion in 2003, she admitted disagreements among her family.

"It is true my family tried to prevent me at the beginning because of the fragile security and they were afraid that my life would be threatened, but I insisted and managed in my ways to persuade them," She said, "I told them that if you are afraid and I am afraid, who will change Iraq? Why would we leave Iraq for others?"

Hanaa Adwer, head of the Amal (Hope) Society for Woman Affairs, a non-governmental organization, said "Women candidates struggling for women's rights are under pressures in Iraq, politically and socially. Politicians are only giving women a supplementary role for their lists."

"Many women candidates had to quit election campaigns because they received threats, but still we have some who are persisting in. I hope we are on the right way in our struggle to change the traditions of our male-dominant society."

The poll is coming, but is it to signal any kind of new beginning for Iraq?

"God bless you and your win in election," the old woman Yusif embraced Mawla with tears welling in her eyes before leaving. More people came and will come to Mawla for help. Can she deal with that?

Can she be Iraq's Hillary?

(Jubury Shaalan and Jamal Hashim also contributed to this report)

Source: Xinhua

Journalists Under Fire... Gaza Cameraman Seriously Burned Filming Flag Torching Protest

Abdul Rahman Al-Khatib was seriously burned after getting too close to the torched US and Israeli flags.

Source: Gateway PunditAbdul Rahman Al-Khatib
Latest recipient of the Evil Dumbass Award

Hamas Leaders: 'The Gaza Victory Has Paved the Way to Jerusalem, Haifa, Jaffa, the Negev, and the West Bank'

Hamas officials, headed by Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mash'al, are contending that Hamas' victory in Gaza has paved the way to Jaffa and Haifa, and are calling on the Palestinian Authority to join the jihad and the resistance.

Following are excerpts from statements by Hamas leaders:

Mash'al: "The Resistance Entered Every Home, and Has Become an Ideal Among the Arab Nation and Worldwide"

"What happened in Gaza was the first real serious war [fought by] our people on their territory, and therefore it constitutes a turning point in the war with the Zionist enemy. The occupation has failed both politically and in the [battle]field, in that it was compelled, after three weeks, to stop the fighting unilaterally, with no agreement, binding conditions, or stipulations restricting the resistance.

"Two weeks prior to the ceasefire, the Zionist entity, through mediators, attempted to impose on us conditions of surrender, [i.e.] stopping the resistance in Gaza by [declaring] a long-term tahdia [calm] and disarming it.

"However, we staunchly held our ground both in the [battle]field and in the political arena. We rejected these conditions, and they were forced to stop their aggression, [admit] defeat, and withdraw unconditionally. We were adamant in our rejection [of these conditions], since we put our trust in our people's choices and rights..." Read more ...

Source: MEMRI

Dealing with forced marriage and 'honour'-based violence

Schools can have a major role to play to protect children from domestic violence such as 'honour'-based violence and forced marriage. Jenni Whitehead looks at a report by the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee

A new report published by the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee looks at domestic violence, including forced marriage and so called ‘honour’-based violence, and its effect on children. The report pulls together findings from the recent investigation into how local authorities are tackling these issues, particularly that of forced marriage.

The report calls for early intervention and prevention strategies and views schools as having a major role to play in early recognition and reporting and ongoing support of pupils at risk.Read more ...

Source: Teaching Expertise

Broadcast angers Muslims. Leaders want radio station to stop airing comments by priest they say defame Muhammad.

By Gregg Krupa

SOUTHFIELD -- Muslims and interfaith leaders in Metro Detroit are asking a local radio station owner to discontinue broadcasts in which, they say, a Coptic priest has repeatedly defamed the Prophet Muhammad over the past year.

In an Arabic-language broadcast Wednesday on WNZK 680/690 AM, the Rev. Zakariah Boutros said the Muslim prophet Muhammad had engaged in necrophilia and gay sex, according to the Council on American Islamic Relations.

Boutros has previously come under fire from area Muslims, who say he disparages Islam. The controversial, American-based priest can be heard on purchased time slots on radio stations internationally. His words have stirred controversy in Egypt and Great Britain, and are embraced by a number of bloggers and Web sites that criticize Islam.

Amani Mostafa, who hosts the program "Questions About Faith" on which Boutros spoke Thursday, said Boutros was "reading from an Islamic text" when he said, over the air, that the Prophet Muhammad slept in the grave of a dead woman and allowed a man to kiss and caress his chest. Read more ...

Source: The Detroit News

Islamists call the shots in Swedish town

STOCKHOLM, Jan 28: Small groups of radical Islamists have a stranglehold on part of a southern Swedish town that saw violent riots last month, a report submitted to the Swedish government said on Wednesday.

The Rosengaard neighbourhood of Malmoe was the scene of two nights of unrest between immigrant youths and police last month.

Around 85 per cent of the 22,000 inhabitants are either immigrants or second generation immigrants and unemployment is 38 per cent

Radical Islamists control the lives of Rosengaard families and set the rules, authors Magnus Ranstorp and Josefine Dos Santos, terrorism experts at Sweden’s National Defence College, wrote in the report.

“Families who have just moved into the neighbourhood and who have never been particularly religious or traditional claim that they led freer lives in their home country than in Rosengaard,” the report said.

Muslim women who did not wear the veil in their home country were for example obliged to don it, according to the study.

The authors also singled out “cellar mosques” whose members serve as a kind of “thought police”.

The 30-page report, entitled “Threat to Democracy and Values - A Snapshot from Malmoe”, is based on interviews with 30 people working in the city, including the police, secret service, social services and teachers.

All of them except one said they had observed a radicalisation of Rosengaard in the past five years. Examples such as forced marriages of young teens abroad were cited, the report said.

The report also describes how Rosengaard residents who found jobs tended to move out of the neighbourhood, and how the number of students in public school has halved in recent years due to a rise in increasingly criticised state-subsidised “free schools” which in Rosengaard focus on Muslim teachings.

“The fact that there are fundamentalist groups in Rosengaard that organise child marriages, harass women that don’t wear the veil and encourage youths to isolate themselves from society is totally unacceptable,” Integration Minister Nyamko Sabuni said in a statement.

“Sweden’s laws, rights and gender equality apply to everyone, including those in Rosengaard,” she added.

The December riots in Rosengaard erupted following protests over the closure of an Islamic cultural centre that housed a mosque, and spread to become a general expression of discontent among disadvantaged youths.

Source: AFP
More on this story: New report about Islamism in Sweden

Morocco Bans Unislamic Names in Netherlands

THE HAGUE, 29/01/09 - Moroccans in the Netherlands are not allowed to give their children any Berber names any more. In this way, Islamic identity is being stressed, Trouw newspaper reported yesterday.

By far the biggest group of Moroccans in the Netherlands are of Berber origin, a region in the mountainous north of Morocco. "They will now be forced to give their children a Moroccan-Islamic name," according to Trouw. "Morocco wants to secure the Moroccan identity of its nationals in this way, including the Moroccan Dutch."

The Moroccan government in Rabat sent all embassies and consulates abroad a list of banned name this week. Christian names were already forbidden. "We forbid Berber names because they conflict with the identity and because they open the door to the spread of meaningless names," said Idris Bajdi, a top official in Morocco, in the newspaper.

Labour (PvdA) MP Samira Bouchibti, a Moroccan national (by royal Moroccan decree) like all other Moroccans who moved to or were born in the Netherlands, is angry. "We must get rid of these lists of names and this interference. I want to be able to decide myself how I name my children. This is discriminatory."

Bouchibti also criticised her party leader Wouter Bos, who said at a PvdA party meeting earlier this week that dual passports "belong in the Netherlands." Bouchibti: "Bos has no enforced dual nationality and therefore does not know what it means in practice." Bos considers dual nationality can foster intergation.

Source: NIS

Gaza victims describe human shield use

Members of a Gaza family whose farm was turned into a "fortress" by Hamas fighters have reported that they were helpless to stop Hamas from using them as human shields.

They told the official Palestinian Authority daily newspaper that for years Hamas had used their property and homes as military installations from which the group would launch rockets into Israel, dig tunnels and store arms.

According to the victims, those who tried to object were shot in the legs by Hamas operatives.

Palestinian Media Watch quoted the official Palestinian Authority daily, Al-Hayat al-Jadida as reporting on January 27, "The Abd Rabbo family kept quiet while Hamas fighters turned their farm in the Gaza strip into a fortress. Right now they are waiting for the aid promised by the [Hamas] movement after Israel bombed the farm and turned it into ruins."

According to the report, the hill on which the Abd Rabbo family lives overlooks Sderot, making it an ideal military position for Hamas fighters.

The Abd Rabbo family members emphasized to the paper that they were not Hamas activists and that they were still loyal to the Fatah movement, but that they had been unable to prevent the armed squads from entering their neighborhood at night.

Source: Jerusalem Post

New Team, New Try

U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) is nothing if not tenacious. He sent five letters to the State Department and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice during the last 15 months of the Bush Administration expressing his concern about intolerance and extremism in Saudi Arabian textbooks, especially those being used at the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) in Alexandria, Va.

An analysis by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) concluded that, despite promise to remove references to offending passages, the books still teach that "Jews conspired against Islam," that Sunni Muslims should shun all Shia Muslims and that killing an apostate or an adulterer is acceptable under Islamic law.

Now there's a new team at the State Department and Wolf has written to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging her to act. He told Clinton his past overtures resulted only in "vague assurances on the part of the State Department and the school that the curriculum has been reformed. But these assurances are insufficient, particularly when they are utterly at odds with USCIRF's findings, and may be indicative of a wider problem-namely the status of Saudi commitments made in 2006 to conduct ‘a comprehensive revision of textbooks and educational curricula to weed out disparaging remarks.'"

A resolution is needed, even if it turns out the matter has been resolved quietly, Wolf wrote:

"If the students at ISA are not being taught or exposed to texts that incite hatred and intolerance of other people and faiths, then in all fairness to them and those associated with the academy, concerns should be put to rest. If, however, the content of the textbooks is consistent with USCIRF's findings, then action is required."

Saudi Arabia was among the largest donors to former President Bill Clinton's charity foundation, Wolf notes. If Secretary of State Clinton wants to show those donations will not affect her decisions as the nation's top diplomat, Wolf writes, demanding answers from the ISA would be a good start.

Source: IPT BlogHon. Frank Wolf
Latest recipient of The MASH Award

CAIR's True Colors

Though it represents itself to be a Muslim civil rights organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) devoted most of its resources earlier this month to mobilizing opposition to Israel's attempt to neutralize Hamas militarily. It organized petition drives and bus caravans from chapters across the country to a protest held January 10th in Washington, D.C.

On Thursday, the Investigative Project on Terrorism reported that the FBI has cut off contact with CAIR due to unanswered questions about the organization's roots in a Hamas-support network. Earlier this month, the IPT showed how CAIR officials dutifully avoid mentioning Hamas by name when discussing the conflict. Yet no major media outlet or political figure is challenging CAIR's positions or tactics.

That may be because CAIR has cultivated sympathetic coverage in everything from local newspapers to the New York Times, nurtured alliances with members of Congress, including Democrats Jim McDermott of Washington, Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, all of whom have spoken at CAIR events.

In the past six months the mayors of Houston and Tampa have issued proclamations designating "Council on American Islamic Relations day" in their cities. Not bad for a group labeled as a front group by an FBI agent during sworn testimony in a successful terror-finance prosecution in which CAIR is an un-indicted co-conspirator. Read more ...

Source: IPT News

Islam in Vogue: Jemima Khan's delusional world of Islam

By Pelargonium

British Vogue, November 2008, featured an article about female converters to Islam by Jemima Khan, herself a woman who converted from Judaism for the sake of her marriage to Imran Khan over ten years ago. An excellent choice for a first husband, her father said at the time, although I would say not an entirely excellent choice of religion to be married to, for if she has chosen to leave the religion, she has been quieter about that than about her divorce – understandably, as she might well prefer to live a pleasant life with her children rather than risk being on the receiving end of a bit of anti-apostate Islamic activity.

Interviewing three enthusiastic converters to her assumed religion did not evince a correspondingly excitable tone in Ms Khan’s writing. Indeed I detected a tone that could be interpreted as subtle cautioning regarding the leap these women had made, which cannot fail to be seen alogside her personal decision to return to England and a “Western” lifestyle after ten years in Pakistan; this was despite her assertion, several years ago, that the "superficialities" of a Western woman's lifestyle, which she had fully enjoyed, had "little to do with true happiness". read more ...

Source: Islam Watch

Turkey urges Obama to delist Hamas from Terror List

Turkey's prime minister had a message Thursday for U.S. President Barack Obama: redefine terror and terrorism in the Middle East and use it as the basis for a new American policy.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country has played a key role in trying to mediate among Israel and Syria and the Palestinians, said Obama's new Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, will be in Turkey for talks Sunday.

"President Obama must redefine terror and terrorist organizations in the Middle East, and based on this new definition, a new American policy must be deployed in the Middle East," Erdogan told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The Turkish leader appeared to be referring to the U.S. position toward Hamas and Hezbollah, which the United States considers terrorist organizations. While both have military wings, Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 and remains in charge following the recent Israeli invasion. Hezbollah is a major political force in Lebanon.Read more ...

Source: AP
H/T: Weasel Zippers

Muslims in America, The SeriesPart One: An Overview of American Islam

By Kathy Shaidle

Imagine a Super Bowl with all male cheerleaders and half-time prayers. In that America, they drink Jihad Cola instead of Coke and thank Allah when they win an Oscar.

Luckily, that America is fictional, one vividly described in Robert Ferrigno's 2006 futuristic novel, Prayers for the Assassin, set in 2040. But is it really so hard to imagine, in a world in which a man named "Barack Hussein Obama" can get elected President just a few years after Muslim hijackers destroyed the world's tallest buildings in the heart of New York City?

Today many Americans are either blissfully ignorant of, or simply indifferent to, the slow, incremental growth of radical Islam in their midst.

We sometimes hear about terrorist cells or suspicious Muslim "compounds" on the news. However, these stories represent merely the tip of an Islamic iceberg that could very well doom America. Not today or tomorrow. But in our lifetimes? That is a real possibility.

And don't shrug off Islam as "just another religion." Muslim sharia law deems women to be inferior to men, and allows husbands to "lightly" beat their wives. Polygamy and child bride marriage are condoned and encouraged, due to the example of Mohammed himself, whose many wives included a nine year old. Anti-Semitism and slavery are enshrined in the Koran, as is exploitation of and even violence against all "unbelievers." Read more ...

Source: RightSide News

An Open Letter to A citizen Of Gaza: I Am the Soldier Who Slept In Your Home

By: Yishai G (reserve soldier)

Hello,

While the world watches the ruins in Gaza, you return to your home which remains standing. However, I am sure that it is clear to you that someone was in your home while you were away.

I am that someone.

I spent long hours imagining how you would react when you walked into your home. How you would feel when you understood that IDF soldiers had slept on your mattresses and used your blankets to keep warm.

I knew that it would make you angry and sad and that you would feel this violation of the most intimate areas of your life by those defined as your enemies, with stinging humiliation. I am convinced that you hate me with unbridled hatred, and you do not have even the tiniest desire to hear what I have to say. At the same time, it is important for me to say the following in the hope that there is even the minutest chance that you will hear me.

I spent many days in your home. You and your family's presence was felt in every corner. I saw your family portraits on the wall, and I thought of my family. I saw your wife's perfume bottles on the bureau, and I thought of my wife. I saw your children's toys and their English language schoolbooks. I saw your personal computer and how you set up the modem and wireless phone next to the screen, just as I do.

I wanted you to know that despite the immense disorder you found in your house that was created during a search for explosives and tunnels (which were indeed found in other homes), we did our best to treat your possessions with respect. When I moved the computer table, I disconnected the cables and lay them down neatly on the floor, as I would do with my own computer. I even covered the computer from dust with a piece of cloth. I tried to put back the clothes that fell when we moved the closet although not the same as you would have done, but at least in such a way that nothing would get lost.

I know that the devastation, the bullet holes in your walls and the destruction of those homes near you place my descriptions in a ridiculous light. Still, I need you to understand me, us, and hope that you will channel your anger and criticism to the right places.

I decided to write you this letter specifically because I stayed in your home.

I can surmise that you are intelligent and educated and there are those in your household that are university students. Your children learn English, and you are connected to the Internet. You are not ignorant; you know what is going on around you.

Therefore, I am sure you know that Qassam rockets were launched from your neighborhood into Israeli towns and cities.

How could you see these weekly launches and not think that one day we would say "enough"?! Did you ever consider that it is perhaps wrong to launch rockets at innocent civilians trying to lead a normal life, much like you? How long did you think we would sit back without reacting?

I can hear you saying "it's not me, it's Hamas". My intuition tells me you are not their most avid supporter. If you look closely at the sad reality in which your people live, and you do not try to deceive yourself or make excuses about "occupation", you must certainly reach the conclusion that the Hamas is your real enemy.

The reality is so simple, even a seven year old can understand: Israel withdrew from the Gaza strip, removing military bases and its citizens from Gush Katif. Nonetheless, we continued to provide you with electricity, water, and goods (and this I know very well as during my reserve duty I guarded the border crossings more than once, and witnessed hundreds of trucks full of goods entering a blockade-free Gaza every day).

Despite all this, for reasons that cannot be understood and with a lack of any rational logic, Hamas launched missiles on Israeli towns. For three years we clenched our teeth and restrained ourselves. In the end, we could not take it anymore and entered the Gaza strip, into your neighborhood, in order to remove those who want to kill us. A reality that is painful but very easy to explain.

As soon as you agree with me that Hamas is your enemy and because of them, your people are miserable, you will also understand that the change must come from within. I am acutely aware of the fact that what I say is easier to write than to do, but I do not see any other way. You, who are connected to the world and concerned about your children's education, must lead, together with your friends, a civil uprising against Hamas.

I swear to you, that if the citizens of Gaza were busy paving roads, building schools, opening factories and cultural institutions instead of dwelling in self pity, arms smuggling and nurturing a hatred to your Israeli neighbors, your homes would not be in ruins right now.

If your leaders were not corrupt and motivated by hatred, your home would not have been harmed.

If someone would have stood up and shouted that there is no point in launching missiles on innocent civilians, I would not have to stand in your kitchen as a soldier.

You don't have money, you tell me? You have more than you can imagine.

Even before Hamas took control of Gaza, during the time of Yasser Arafat, millions if not billions of dollars donated by the world community to the Palestinians was used for purchasing arms or taken directly to your leaders bank accounts. Gulf States, the emirates - your brothers, your flesh and blood, are some of the richest nations in the world. If there was even a small feeling of solidarity between Arab nations, if these nations had but the smallest interest in reconstructing the Palestinian people - your situation would be very different.

You must be familiar with Singapore. The land mass there is not much larger than the Gaza strip and it is considered to be the second most populated country in the world. Yet, Singapore is a successful, prospering, and well managed country. Why not the same for you?

My friend, I would like to call you by name, but I will not do so publicly. I want you to know that I am 100% at peace with what my country did, what my army did, and what I did. However, I feel your pain. I am sorry for the destruction you are finding in your neighborhood at this moment. On a personal level, I did what I could to minimize the damage to your home as much as possible.

In my opinion, we have a lot more in common than you might imagine. I am a civilian, not a soldier, and in my private life I have nothing to do with the military. However, I have an obligation to leave my home, put on a uniform, and protect my family every time we are attacked. I have no desire to be in your home wearing a uniform again and I would be more than happy to sit with you as a guest on your beautiful balcony, drinking sweet tea seasoned with the sage growing in your garden.

The only person who could make that dream a reality is you. Take responsibility for yourself, your family, your people, and start to take control of your destiny. How? I do not know. Maybe there is something to be learned from the Jewish people who rose up from the most destructive human tragedy of the 20th century, and instead of sinking into self-pity, built a flourishing and prospering country. It is possible, and it is in your hands.

I am ready to be there to provide a shoulder of support and help to you.

But only you can move the wheels of history."

Regards,
Yishai, (Reserve Soldier)

Source: Maariv

Caught on video: shameful cover-up of the crescent-topped Tower of Voices

Background

For three years, the Flight 93 Memorial Project has been relentlessly dishonest, publicly denying damning facts like the Mecca orientation of the giant crescent while making excuses for these facts in private.

Example:

Before the 2007 Memorial Project meeting, Project Partner and Flight 93 family member Patrick White was asked by the press about claims that the giant Crescent of Embrace points to Mecca. He said that all of the claims about what is in the design had been thoroughly investigated and been found to be untrue and "preposterous."

In private conversation at the meeting itself, White acknowledged the Mecca-orientation of the crescent and made excuses for it, arguing that the almost-exact Mecca orientation cannot be seen as a tribute to Islam because the in-exactness of it would be "disrespectful to Islam."

It is difficult enough to comprehend how Flight 93 family members can know that the giant crescent does indeed point almost exactly at Mecca, as critics are claiming, and still be okay with it. But White and the other Project Partners are going even further. They are knowingly covering up this damning information, and even flat lying to the public about it.

Whatever the explanation, this is what we are up against. Memorial Project participants know that the press will only cover our denunciations of the crescent design in those rare instances where we are able to mount a substantial public protest. Since the press never checks the facts, Project partners just issue whatever denials will get them through that news cycle, no matter how dishonest.

The above video

An example of this shameless misdirection was caught on video at last summer's Memorial Project meeting. Alec Rawls, who made the trip to Somerset PA along with Tom Burnett Sr. (father of Flight 93 hero Tom Jr.), directed public attention to the crescent-topped Tower of Voices. A full-color advertisement in the Somerset newspaper showed the public what the Memorial Project and the press would not: that the Tower of Voices is topped with an Islamic shaped crescent, soaring in the sky above the symbolic lives of the 40 heroes:



At the meeting, Patrick White castigated Rawls for showing the meeting this artist's rendering of the crescent topped tower, even as this very same graphic was on display by the Memorial Project itself just outside of the courtroom where the meeting was taking place.

White angrily denounced any suggestion that the approved plans for the memorial were indicative of what would actually be built, clearly implying that the crescent topped tower is no longer part of the planned memorial. Yet White had asserted exactly the opposite just three months earlier, when he and other family members involved with the Memorial Project declared that they would fight to build the design as approved:

Commission Chairman John Reynolds said he anticipated that people who opposed the memorial design would present a petition to throw it out.

But family members yesterday said they will work tirelessly to have the monument completed according to the design by the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

"We're standing up and saying, 'Enough.' We're proponents of the winning design," said Patrick White, whose cousin, Louis "Joey" Nacke II, died on Flight 93.

...

Mr. White said his group rejected any wholesale change to the design but allowed that it would have to be modified as it shifts from paper to reality.

However, Mr. White added, "They're not going to be changed based upon the idea that someone sees crescents everywhere."

This was shortly after our blogburst group started hitting hard on the crescent-topped tower, which the Project Partners are known to have been angry about. In effect, White was directly insisting that the Tower would not be changed just because people were upset about its crescent shape.

The press ignored White's implied denial that the crescent shaped tower will be built

If the crescent shaped tower is actually to be removed, or changed to some other shape, that is a significant concession, and should have been widely reported, at least by the western Pennsylvania press, but it was not mentioned in any newspaper.

Has the blatant Islamic-Supremacist symbolism of the crescent-topped tower actually penetrated the thick skulls of Patrick White and his cohorts? That is doubtful. When they only faced blogosphere pressure over the crescent-topped tower, their response was angry insistence that the design would NOT be altered. The difference in August was that everyone they had to deal with face-to-face had just seen the crescent topped tower in the local newspaper. The difference was exposure.

Since the press went on to cover up what we worked so hard to expose, there is no reason to think that the Memorial Project will change the design at all. They managed to sneak their cover-up through one more news cycle, which is all they have ever cared about.

Not that any tweaking of the design could ever make it anything but a terrorist memorial mosque in any case. The Tower, for instance, will still be a year round accurate Islamic prayer-time sundial, regardless of any change to the Tower's profile. (The Memorial Project knows about this too, and makes utterly dishonest excuses for it.)

Better stand up and fight America, or there WILL be a terrorist memorial mosque on the Flight 93 crash site.

To join our blogbursts, send your blog's url.

Source: Error Theory

Netanyahu warns in Iran at Davos forum

Gary Duncan in Davos | January 30

BENJAMIN Netanyahu, the frontrunner to become the next Israeli prime minister, has warned that Iran's "100-yard dash" to securing nuclear weapons is a graver danger to the world than the global economic crisis.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, before Israel's election in 12 days, Mr Netanyahu claimed that Tehran was now close to securing an atomic bomb, and was in a "100-yard dash" to the finish line in the race to obtain the weapon.

Mr Netanyahu said that despite all its intractable problems, the financial and economic crisis would ultimately prove reversible and be beaten by governments and central banks.

But in an ominous alert to world leaders, he said: "What is not reversible is the acquisition of nuclear weapons by a fanatic radical regime committed to a pre-medieval view of the world.

"We have never had, since the dawn of the nuclear age, nuclear weapons in the hands of such a fanatical regime."

In hawkish comments designed to bolster his tough credentials in the forthcoming polls in Israel, Mr Netanyahu said that efforts by him and others to secure peace across the Middle East would be scuppered if Tehran secured usable nuclear weapons.

Insisting that he wanted to "move rapidly to advance a workable peace", with moderates in the Palestinian Authority and to "drive down the radicals", the former Israeli finance minister went on: "All of this will fall by the wayside if the world fails to stop Iran from arming itself with nuclear weapons.

"It was and remains the greatest challenge facing the leaders of the 21st century at the beginning of the 21st century."

Iran has denied it is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons and says it is pursuing nuclear power for peaceful uses. It also denied it is engaged in terrorism, instead accusing Israel of terrorist policies against the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, which were occupied by Israel after the 1967 Mideast War.

In a discussion on leadership alongside British Conservative leader David Cameron, Mr Netanyahu said that three qualities were required to be a successful national leader: vision, usable political power, and political courage.

"Unless you have the big three - the vision, the power and the guts - it is not going to happen," he said.

He outlined a proposed economic strategy for Israel including more stringent control of government spending, steep cuts in taxes, and a series of measure to enhance his country's international competitiveness, including the building of a new highway to connect Israel's two coastlines.

"My vision is that we can use this crisis to complete reforms so that Israel becomes one of the ten most competitive economies in the world," he said.

George Mitchell, US President Barack Obama's new Middle East envoy, was meeting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Israel.

Mr Olmert was reported to have told the envoy that Israel would be willing to evacuate some 60,000 settlers in the West Bank and hand over much of east Jerusalem as part of any permanent peace arrangement between Israel and the Palestinians.

But that policy would be thrown into doubt if Likud and Mr Netanyahu win. The latest election polls show Likud ahead of Mr Olmert's centrist Kadima party and its candidate for prime minister, Tzipi Livni, the Foreign Minister, by about five seats in the 120-seat parliament. Mr Olmert, who is facing corruption allegations, is stepping down.

Polls show Likud and other hawkish parties winning a majority in the parliament, giving Mr Netanyahu the best chance to form a government.

Source: The Australian

Saudi "interfaith dialogue" at home: Blogger arrested for leaving Islam and criticizing sharia

Five months after the daughter of a member of Saudi Arabia’s religious police was killed for writing online about her faith in Christ, Saudi authorities have reportedly arrested a 28-year-old Christian man for describing his conversion and criticizing the kingdom’s judiciary on his Web site.

Saudi police arrested Hamoud Bin Saleh on Jan. 13 “because of his opinions and his testimony that he had converted from Islam to Christianity,” according to the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI). Bin Saleh, who had been detained for nine months in 2004 and again for a month last November, was reportedly being held in Riyadh’s Eleisha prison.

On his web site, which Saudi authorities have blocked, Bin Saleh wrote that his journey to Christ began after witnessing the public beheading of three Pakistanis convicted of drug charges. Shaken, he began an extensive study of Islamic history and law, as well as Saudi justice. He became disillusioned with sharia (Islamic law) and dismayed that kingdom authorities only prosecuted poor Saudis and foreigners.

Source: Compass Direct News
H/T: Dhimmi Watch

Update: Blogger Arrested for Leaving Islam; Google Shuts Down Website
Google
Latest recipient of The Dhimmi Award

New York: Muslim man pleads guilty to trying to kill his sister because she was a "bad Muslim girl" - but it wasn't an honor killing attempt

His sister was a bad Muslim girl

By Robert Spencer

Just received this one from three weeks ago: Waheed Allah Mohammad has pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault for trying to kill his sister, Fauzia A. Mohammad, by stabbing her multiple times. Waheed Mohammad told investigators that Fauzia had dishonored the family and was a “bad Muslim girl,” but no worries -- this wasn't an attempt to add to the growing list of honor killings in the U.S. Oh, no. Waheed just snapped because of post-traumatic stress disorder. His lawyer explained: “I think it was probably more of a domestic violence incident than an attempted honor killing. It (honor killing) is a nice headline but it doesn’t seem to fit what happened here.”

This kind of denial will only make for more honor killings in the U.S.

Democrat and Chronicle:

An Afghan refugee admitted today that he stabbed and seriously wounded his sister during an argument that began when she tried to leave her family.

Waheed Allah Mohammad, 22, pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree murder and first-degree assault in exchange for a prison term of at least five years and no more than 15 years.

His trial was to begin next Monday.

During his plea before Monroe County Court Judge John J. Connell, Mohammad said he intended to kill his sister, Fauzia A. Mohammad, 19, when he stabbed her multiple times outside his family’s apartment on Linhome Drive in Henrietta. Read more ...

Source: Jihad WatchWaheed Allah Mohammad
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award